The Current War Review

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a prescreening of the movie The Current War. I can’t lie. I kind of feel special. My wife was sponsoring the event for her work, and I’ve never been to a pre-screening before. This happened to be a movie I wanted to watch. But honestly, anyone could have gone. You’d just have to look up AARP’s Movies for Grown Ups and sign up online. Regardless, I’m going to pretend I’m someone, and leave a review for it the before the masses get to see it.

Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, The Current War delves into the race to power America. Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, with a sprinkling in of Nikola Tesla, fight for the best method to create electricity. A while back, I watched a documentary about the alternating current (AC) vs direct current (DC) debate. As I watched the movie, I had a mental check list of all the key events I remember seeing from the documentary. To my delight, every one of the milestones was portrayed in the movie. Perhaps because of my interest in the history of the race, I found the movie even more enjoyable. But is it a good movie? Is it worth spending the money to see? Using Aristotle’s six elements of drama, I’ll break it down.

Plot. The most important question I ask concerning plot, “Does it pull me in?” There is no real science to this question, but in this case, the answer is simple, “Yes.” I was never bored watching this movie. Does this mean the plot is perfect? No. There are certain plot points of this movie I’d have wished they dug into more deeply. There are other elements, that could have been shorter. Plus, I like surprises. Unfortunately, since I already know the history of the events, I knew who was going to win. My most noticeable problem with the plot concerns the ending. Not that it is bad, it was just sudden. The movie finished with end credit subtitles that simply told the audience the rest of the history. It may have been nice for some of those story beats to have been shown. 

Character. This is the strongest element of the movie. The characters are flawed, yet human. I loved how Gomez-Rejon sets up early what drives both Edison and Westinghouse. He illustrates each has a strong moral Crux. As the battle between Edison and Westinghouse intensifies, each has his highest value tested. In addition, Benedict Cumberbatch (Edison) and Michael Shannon (Westinghouse) add depth and humanity to their roles. Now Nicholas Hoult is great as Nikola Tesla, but the movie could have used more of him. He is thrown in and out of scenes as needed, without a natural transition. Tom Holland was good in the movie, but he didn’t feel believable. He is too boyish for the part. (My wife even commented that she will only see him as Spiderman--Spider Man and Dr. Strange reunited.) If Holland was only playing Edison’s assistant, I may have not mentioned his performance, but later in the movie he is given a role by a board of big wigs. I do not believe the shareholders of a major company would have offered Holland’s portrayal such a position. 

Diction. I think here’s where the movie has the most problems. These are mostly minor nitpicks (I do need something to write about). First, some of the camera angles and transitions are awkward and jarring. I usually don’t notice the cinematography elements of a movie, but I did pick up on these. Curious to see if it was just me, I checked out some other reviews (only to verify my opinion), and sure enough other critics have commented on the very same thing. A couple critics suggested that the camera shifts were meant to represent the chaos of alternating current. I didn’t get that. Now, this kind of thing doesn’t bother me, but for some, it may be an issue. Yet, the movie does have some great moments of camera work. The light bulb scenes lighting up the night sky are awe-inspiring. And, Gomez-Rejon adds a mood invoking old movie slide show transition to glance over a darker place in the story. 

Music. First, the score is good. One of the pieces incorporates the drama of an old orchestra but adds electrical hues to create them right mood. The tone is spot on. Concerning pacing, a lot of the elements coincide with my issues with the plot. Some scenes transition to fast, while other hold their breath just a hint to long. Nothing, horrid, just noticeable. 

Theme. Without spoiling anything, I love the way both Edison and Westinghouse wrestle with each of their individual cruxes as the competition grows more heated. I can identify. The themes in the movie are universal, and not controversial, so audiences are not likely to be turned off by the questions the movie is asking. Nor are the themes subtle. Thus, some may say the movie lacks depth, but hooey on them. However, the themes are nuanced. They don’t yell at viewers and say, “This is how you are supposed to see things!” The themes simply ask questions. 

Spectacle. No one expects a historical biopic to emphasize spectacle, but this movie does have some nice effects, particularly the beautiful displays of old timey lightbulbs. My guess is these effects were CGI, but I couldn’t tell. 

All-in-all, I really enjoyed The Current War. But would I have spent nine bucks to watch it? Not a fair question to ask me, because I rarely go to the movies. It’s not a movie I would have rushed to go out to see, but I was wanting to watch it at some point. So, if I were at the right place, at the right time, and I had spent money to watch it, I would not have regretted my decision.